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The Cost of Not Getting Tested for Coronavirus: A $10K ER Bill

thecity.nyc

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Re: The Cost of Not Getting Tested for Coronavirus: A $10K ER Bill

#31

Post by munk-a »

lostgame wrote: post #23
munk-a wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are not - the effect these prices have on the poor is an unintended[1] consequence of the true aim. Extracting the most money possible from insurance payors - honestly, if hospitals could bill "You owe us 50$ or as much of that that your insurance would cover" then they would. Nobody actively wants to impoverish the poor (except for a small number of utterly terrible people) but payors force cost pass on to thei…

[flagged]

I work adjacent to the industry and can clearly see what a rotten pile of crap it is - I'm also actually a US/Canadian border straddler, I emigrated from the US to come up here in fact.

Please don't take any of my statement above as any sort of excuse for the market's behavior, these companies hold profit over the well being of patients - otherwise they wouldn't be so willing to stick poor people with such high bills. But, it is a private market and what's happening is all that can be expected. Again, the US really needs to look at Medicare for All - partially just because it'd end up providing better care for less money. Canada's system isn't perfect, I supported the NDP in their push for national Dental and Pharma, and I'll continue to do so, but it's worlds better than the US.

Re: The Cost of Not Getting Tested for Coronavirus: A $10K ER Bill

#32

Post by jimbob45 »

godzillabrennus wrote: post #26
platetone wrote: post #15

We decided (slash "made the mistake") of going to the emergency room last summer. Spent less than two hours in an exam room before being dismissed with no conclusion and referral to another doctor. Got a $9500 bill about six months later and have been billed a 10% copay on that (insurance paid $5500 already at their negotiated rate). Still fighting it as absolutely absurd, but there's really no hope. This country is…

People take UBER to the hospital now instead of an ambulance. #Merica

IMHO, you're mis-stating the problem. One should take an uber/friend to the hospital if the ailment is not time-sensitive or in need of ongoing treatment so that the ambulances are freed up for more critical patients. Ambulances should have some level of cost associated with them to dissuade using them for minor ailments. Should that level of cost be thousands and thousands of dollars? Probably not.

Re: The Cost of Not Getting Tested for Coronavirus: A $10K ER Bill

#33

Post by CydeWeys »

halfmatthalfcat wrote: post #28
platetone wrote: post #15

We decided (slash "made the mistake") of going to the emergency room last summer. Spent less than two hours in an exam room before being dismissed with no conclusion and referral to another doctor. Got a $9500 bill about six months later and have been billed a 10% copay on that (insurance paid $5500 already at their negotiated rate). Still fighting it as absolutely absurd, but there's really no hope. This country is…

An opposite example, went to the ER last year and spent a couple hours there. Paid a $100 copay. Haven’t seen any other bills.

Gonna go out on a limb and assume you have good health insurance. Many (most?) Americans do not. I'm on an HDHP for example, so the first several thousand dollars in medical expenses per year come directly out of my pocket before insurance starts helping at all.

Re: The Cost of Not Getting Tested for Coronavirus: A $10K ER Bill

#34

Post by mntmoss »

smacktoward wrote: post #16
solotronics wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think once the dust has settled from COVID-19 the entire health system in America will be totally changed.

I remember studying political science as an undergrad two decades ago. My professors all said the same thing about the Electoral College: “it’s a relic that has long since stopped serving a practical purpose, but people live with it because it never rocks the boat. If there’s ever an election where the winner of the popular vote doesn’t actually win because they lost in the Electoral College, there will be a huge mas…

On the other hand, the nature of "collapse" is the suddenness with which it takes place. There are all kinds of changes taking place right now, as a result of this crisis, that were previously dismissed as politically infeasible.

When the crisis is over there will definitely be some attempt to roll everything back to the "good old days", but not all of it will stick, and we'll have a different set of trends emerge - and trends in the political system may be among them. But maybe not the Electoral College. I don't see the federal system changing very quickly as a result of any current events.

Re: The Cost of Not Getting Tested for Coronavirus: A $10K ER Bill

#35

Post by bluntfang »

swozey wrote: post #27
platetone wrote: post #15

We decided (slash "made the mistake") of going to the emergency room last summer. Spent less than two hours in an exam room before being dismissed with no conclusion and referral to another doctor. Got a $9500 bill about six months later and have been billed a 10% copay on that (insurance paid $5500 already at their negotiated rate). Still fighting it as absolutely absurd, but there's really no hope. This country is…

I paid something like $800 for one crutch when I sprained my ankle once. Think another $300 for ibuprofen. Now I know why there's a crutch market on craigslist/thrift stores. Not sure what my insurance paid for xrays, etc, but my tab was something like $1100 for that ER rendezvous. Thought I broke my leg. I had a laparoscopic surgery a few years ago that was $35k.

to be fair, you paid a doctor to administer you a crutch and ibuprofen, I'm certain that's not the raw material cost.

Re: The Cost of Not Getting Tested for Coronavirus: A $10K ER Bill

#36

Post by CydeWeys »

swozey wrote: post #27
platetone wrote: post #15

We decided (slash "made the mistake") of going to the emergency room last summer. Spent less than two hours in an exam room before being dismissed with no conclusion and referral to another doctor. Got a $9500 bill about six months later and have been billed a 10% copay on that (insurance paid $5500 already at their negotiated rate). Still fighting it as absolutely absurd, but there's really no hope. This country is…

I paid something like $800 for one crutch when I sprained my ankle once. Think another $300 for ibuprofen. Now I know why there's a crutch market on craigslist/thrift stores. Not sure what my insurance paid for xrays, etc, but my tab was something like $1100 for that ER rendezvous. Thought I broke my leg. I had a laparoscopic surgery a few years ago that was $35k.

Meanwhile, I got a doctor consultation and referral, X-rays, a temporary ankle brace, and two crutches, all for $240 from an urgent care clinic (no insurance help). That's an actually fair cost. Hospitals tend to be huge ripoffs but maybe not urgent care clinics.

Re: The Cost of Not Getting Tested for Coronavirus: A $10K ER Bill

#37

Post by platetone »

swozey wrote: post #27
platetone wrote: post #15

We decided (slash "made the mistake") of going to the emergency room last summer. Spent less than two hours in an exam room before being dismissed with no conclusion and referral to another doctor. Got a $9500 bill about six months later and have been billed a 10% copay on that (insurance paid $5500 already at their negotiated rate). Still fighting it as absolutely absurd, but there's really no hope. This country is…

I paid something like $800 for one crutch when I sprained my ankle once. Think another $300 for ibuprofen. Now I know why there's a crutch market on craigslist/thrift stores. Not sure what my insurance paid for xrays, etc, but my tab was something like $1100 for that ER rendezvous. Thought I broke my leg. I had a laparoscopic surgery a few years ago that was $35k.

there's a line item in the bill of $750 for "1mL iodine"

Re: The Cost of Not Getting Tested for Coronavirus: A $10K ER Bill

#38

Post by javajosh »

bluntfang wrote: post #35
swozey wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I paid something like $800 for one crutch when I sprained my ankle once. Think another $300 for ibuprofen. Now I know why there's a crutch market on craigslist/thrift stores. Not sure what my insurance paid for xrays, etc, but my tab was something like $1100 for that ER rendezvous. Thought I broke my leg. I had a laparoscopic surgery a few years ago that was $35k.

to be fair, you paid a doctor to administer you a crutch and ibuprofen, I'm certain that's not the raw material cost.

That's not fair, because the doctor no-doubt billed separately.

Re: The Cost of Not Getting Tested for Coronavirus: A $10K ER Bill

#39

Post by crispinb »

lostgame wrote: post #23
munk-a wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are not - the effect these prices have on the poor is an unintended[1] consequence of the true aim. Extracting the most money possible from insurance payors - honestly, if hospitals could bill "You owe us 50$ or as much of that that your insurance would cover" then they would. Nobody actively wants to impoverish the poor (except for a small number of utterly terrible people) but payors force cost pass on to thei…

[flagged]

You're exploiting an ambiguity in the word 'unavoidable'. Of course any individual manager (hospital or insurance industry) could 'avoid' predatory pricing. But the system of capitalism is designed to prevent people who would practise such avoidance doing so - either by excluding them from management roles (the sewage farm metaphor), or forcing them to conform to the ideology of greed.

An unmitigated exploitative capitalist system cannot 'avoid' overcharging, because it would be counter to its deepest nisus.

Re: The Cost of Not Getting Tested for Coronavirus: A $10K ER Bill

#40

Post by streblo »

platetone wrote: post #15

We decided (slash "made the mistake") of going to the emergency room last summer. Spent less than two hours in an exam room before being dismissed with no conclusion and referral to another doctor. Got a $9500 bill about six months later and have been billed a 10% copay on that (insurance paid $5500 already at their negotiated rate). Still fighting it as absolutely absurd, but there's really no hope. This country is…

My daughter had an allergic reaction to food last year, which required us to give an epipen. We were told when this happened that we needed to call 911 and have her taken to the emergency room for observation and potentially for further treatment. We did, the ambulance came and took her to the hospital, which is under a mile away. We then had a similar experience to yours - spent about 2 hours in the hospital being observed, then were dismissed. We eventually got a $2k bill from the ER, which our insurance paid, and a $4k bill from the ambulance company, which our insurance didn't pay.
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